China Grants 40 Design Patents to Apple

Patently Apple is reporting that China has granted Apple forty design patents, mostly covering the iPhone, but also touching on other iOS devices, MacBooks, and even the Shanghai Apple Store.

The iPhone patents cover user interface pieces including the dock, folders, keypad, and Facetime. There are also iPhone patents covering icons, camera views, and one that relates to music playing.

Additionally, there were other iOS patents granted that cover iAd as well as the iPod nano.

The MacBook Air received four patents, including some sets that indicated a black and a white version of Apple's primary consumer laptop. Now, before we all get too excited about a white or black MacBook Air, Patently Apple points out that many of the other MacBook Air drawings were submitted in a beige color. The likelihood of a beige Macbook is somewhere between slim and none, so take the color submissions with a big grain of salt.

Finally, Cupertino secured the patent on the unique Shanghai Apple Store, the one with the cool glass cylinder storefront and spiarling glass staircase that leads into the store itself.

In light of the recent stories of regarding the Chinese government having to crack down on 22 fake Apple stores across the country, as well as reports of counterfeit bandits using crossbows and ziplines to smuggle Apple goods through Hong Kong, locking-in patents and tightening up intellectual property controls in China probably makes a lot of sense.